


Partner in Time

by blake_is_strange



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game), pricefield - Fandom
Genre: F/F, Family time, Fluff, cuteness, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 22:40:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7732546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blake_is_strange/pseuds/blake_is_strange
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chloe and Max have been dating for awhile now and live together in Seattle. Chloe wants to ask Max to marry her but it doesn't exactly go as planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Partner in Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ultimatekaykay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ultimatekaykay/gifts).



> So this is a birthday gift to my beautiful girlfriend Kayla!!! (ultimatekaykay). I love you baby and I hope you have the best birthday possible xoxo

Chloe’s POV

I woke up that morning to the feeling of the sun beating against my back, heating me up until it felt almost unbearable. I opened my eyes, Max’s small frame shifting in my arms as I took in a tired sigh and looked around. Max’s hair was all odds and ends, sticking up in a few places from the the night before. I smiled at the memory, gently brushing a strand of hair out of her face. She looked so peaceful, her lips parted slightly and her forehead free of those adorable wrinkles that were there when she thought about something hard enough. 

I still couldn’t believe that I was here with her. That we were laying in our bed, her heart so close to mine that I could almost feel it as she slept. We had been together for awhile now, living together in Seattle as Max continued to pursue a career in photography by going to school and doing an internship for some big website while I worked at a small coffee shop near the college while also doing part time at a hardware store. We had worked so hard to get here, to achieve moments of peace like this. It had been almost two years since we left Arcadia Bay together. But we still visited and Max was always in touch with Kate, plus we had been having dinner with the Caulfield family every Friday night for the past year and a half. But other than that, Max and I just spent a lot of time together whenever we were free. Last night had been one of those nights. 

Max had gotten all her homework done before the weekend so that we could just relax and I took the weekend off so that I could take her on a special date. We had just spent our evening watching scary movies until Max had snuggled up so close to me that I was afraid she’d break a few bones. She had been hella scared of a movie that I’d picked, so I had tried to make her feel better by kissing her, which lead to a lot of other things that I probably shouldn’t talk about. But the memory made me feel warm all over, making me smile again. Now it was Friday morning, so we had most of the day to do whatever we wanted. I didn’t have anything crazy planned, but I did need to get my morning workout done first. 

Shifting a little, I leaned down and gently touched my lips to Max’s, doing my best not to wake her as I slid out of bed. But before I could get very far, I felt her grip on my bare hips tighten as she let out a tired groan.

“Nooooo,” she whined, not opening her eyes as she tried to pull me back into bed. “Stay with me. You’re warm and it’s too early to wake up.” I chuckled and scooted myself back towards her, kissing her forehead and pressing our bare skin together. 

“But we’re going to go have all of our weekend fun, remember?” I asked, my heart racing at the tiny sparks that travelled under my skin when I got close to her. It was also most like she was a flame and every last fibre of my being was kindling, ready to be lit at any moment by her touch alone. She buried her head in my chest and wrapped her arms around me tighter. 

“Sleeping is fun,” she protested weakly, her hair tickling my skin. I couldn’t help giggling. 

“Come on, Super Max,” I said before wrapping my arms around her. “I don’t want to get out of bed either but who knows when we’ll get this much time to ourselves for the next month? Your finals are coming up and that means that you’ll be studying and I’ll be constantly providing other college students with their midnight fix.”

“Stop trying to be reasonable, you’re never reasonable.” She kept herself pressed against me, her hand making tiny circles against my back and sending tiny shivers down my spine. I took a deep breath, chuckling as I let it out.

“Am I going to have to carry you around today?” I asked, looking down at her. 

“No, you’re going to have to stay in bed with me all day because you’re an amazing girlfriend and you love me,” she replied, her voice slightly muffled by my chest. I shook my head, but gave in a little, kissing the top of her head. 

“You make a convincing case for a tiny, tired person,” I teased, feeling her laughter before I heard it. 

“At least I’m not a giant,” she retorted, making me laugh.

“Hey, that’s Miss Giant to you, Caulfield,” I said, unable to stop myself from smiling. “Plus, I thought you liked how tall I was.” It was more of a tease than anything else. 

“Only when you don’t call me tiny,” she replied, finally looking up at me. I smiled down at her and kissed her nose. “Plus, don’t you think that short jokes are rather beneath you?” She grinned, making me groan at the pun.

“Jesus, Max,” I laughed, shoving her playfully. “If you’re gonna start making puns then I’m out of here!” I finally escaped from her death grip, getting out of bed. She sat up, still grinning at me.

“Oh come on, Chlo! I knew you had a short fuse, but I didn’t know you couldn’t handle my puns.” She had the most shit eating grin on her face imaginable and it was just making me laugh. I couldn’t be mad, even though she always made jokes like that. They were basically dad jokes. I tackled her back down onto the bed and kissed her, shutting her up as she squeaked in surprise. I locked my fingers in her hair, feeling her fingertips graze my sides as I pressed my chest to hers. 

“I will kiss the pun right out of you, Maxi-pad,” I said breathlessly as I pulled away. She giggled and dug her nails into my hips a little. I let out a low groan, making her smirk.

“You’ll have to do more than that, I’m afraid that I’m not so easily subdued,” she replied, her voice low. Max had gotten more confident since we’d started living together, where as I had started getting soft. Not too much, but just enough for the both of us to realize that I was practically puddy in her hands sometimes. Especially times like these. 

“You know I hella hate puns,” I said as she leaned up to kiss my neck. I held back a small moan from the gentle bite she gave me, swallowing dryly. I closed my eyes, trying to remember what I was supposed to be doing. 

“But you love me, right?” She asked, leaning up to kiss me gently, a simple peck to tease me. I let out a slightly frustrated groan.

“Of course I love you, but we have to get ready for our day and go have fun before we go to your parent’s house for dinner,” I replied, trying and failing to get back out of bed again. Max was slowly moving her hand down my torso, her fingertip brushing against my stomach as she went lower.

“We don’t even have to be at their house until seven,” she whispered, leaning up to kiss me again. I leaned into the kiss, my insides growing so hot that they were practically melting. Max hand just kept getting closer to where I wanted it, making it harder and harder for me to protest. “We should at least have a little fun, right? You’re not too worn out from last night, are you?” I couldn’t help chuckling at the memory, the idea sending tiny jolts through me.

“I never would’ve pinned you as the type of person to get morning wood, Max,” I said sort of breathlessly, pressing my chest against hers, the contact setting my skin on fire. Max’s laugh broke through the haze, making me open my eyes to look down at her. She was smiling at me, her eyes filled with something I couldn’t quite recognize. Sometimes Max had a way of keeping everything so deep down that most people never knew what she really felt. But whatever this was making its way to the surface made my heart skip a beat, our eyes locked and her hand frozen on my lower abdomen. God, she was perfect. Even if she was being super distracting. It was true that we didn’t have anywhere to be, but I still wanted to go out and do things with her. Even though she was one of the things that I really wanted to do in that moment. She looked up at me with almost pleading eyes, like she really did want this and wasn’t just trying to mess with me. “Fuck it, who said we needed to leave the house anyway?” I crushed my lips into hers, feeling her gasp into my mouth and I bit down on her bottom lip. 

“Jesus, Chloe,” she gasped as I pulled away, kissing her neck and nibbling at her ear. Her skin was so soft against mine, making the friction between us even more noticeable than before. I moved down her neck, leaving small, but noticeable marks as I went. She moaned softly, spurring me on. I let my hands slide up her sides, grabbing her breasts. I felt her fingers in my hair, pulling me back up to kiss her lips. “I love you,” she breathed between kisses. I pulled her as close to me as I could using my right arm to keep me from putting all my weight on her as I pulled her against me with my left arm.

“You get so sappy when you’re turned on,” I joked, pressing more kisses and bites to her neck. I moaned, feeling her fingernails digging into my back a little. I was just about to start going lower when her cellphone started ringing. 

“Fuck,” she groaned reaching over to grab her phone off the night stand. 

“Just ignore it,” I said as I kissed down her neck, nipping at her right breast. She gasped, her back arching a little as she checked the number.

“It’s my mom,” she said breathlessly, looking down at me as I took her nipple into my mouth, swirling my tongue around it. She moaned, closing her eyes for a moment before grabbing at my hair again. “Please, Chloe, I have to answer this. We can keep going after.” I sighed and sat up, straddling her hips as she sat up, answering the phone. We were pressed together now, but she had her eyes down, tracing tiny circles against my abs. I had worked hard to get that almost six pack going. Ever since I’d quit smoking I had taken to working out, trying to get my stress out in a different way. Plus, Max’s parents hated smoking and I had read some article about how second hand smoke could cause cancer. I definitely didn’t want Max getting cancer. 

I put my hand behind her head, pulling her in so that I could kiss her on the forehead. She smiled up at me, kissing me gently as the phone connected the call.

“Hi, mom,” she said cheerily, obviously faking a bit of her upbeat attitude. There was a bit of Vanessa’s voice that sounded like she was explaining something. “Mhm.” Max nodded, her brow furrowed a little bit, her gaze still trained on my abs. I smiled down at her, trying to read her as she traced the lines in my skin. She looked up at me, smiling a little and pulling the phone away from her ear for a second as she kissed me, pulling away and putting the phone back to her ear. She gave me a tiny wink and my stomach tied itself in knots. There she was, my girlfriend, completely naked right in front of me. It took a lot of willpower not to just tackle her again, but luckily I was more afraid her mom than I was of going without a bit of fun that day. Plus, we could always do it when we got back from her parent’s house. “Noon?... Your house still?... Ok, we’ll be there. Who else is coming?” I could hear Vanessa’s voice listing off name after name and I started to panic a little. I had only ever met Max’s parents, not the rest of her family since a lot of them lived in either Ireland or New York. 

Max looked up at me, giving me a sheepish smile as she kissed my cheek. She was trying to reassure me, but that only made the churning in my stomach worse because that meant that I had a reason to be worried. 

“Ok, we’ll be there, I love you,” Max said as she hung up her phone and sighed. She checked her phone for the time before throwing it aside and turning back to me to wrap her arms around my neck. “Now, where were we?” She asked, a smirk growing on her face.

“Wait, what was that about?” I asked, my hands on Max’s hips as she sighed. 

“My mom wants me to go over today and have lunch with some relatives who are visiting,” she said, sounding a little annoyed. She must’ve seen the confused look on my face because she quickly added on to her previous statement. “But don’t worry, you don’t have to go if you don’t want to. It’s just my grandparents and my dad’s sister and her kids. She said that we wouldn’t have to come to dinner tonight, though.” I looked away from Max’s gaze, focusing on the empty space between us as we sat on our bed. I had needed to talk to Max’s dad about something really important that night, so in a way I needed to go to the lunch if I was going to get a chance to talk to him before the special date I’d planned for us on Saturday. I looked back up at Max to see that she was smiling at me, which made me feel better, untangling the knots my stomach had tied itself into. 

“Yeah, I’ll go,” I replied, brushing a strand of hair out of Max’s face. She smiled excitedly at me and kissed me, pulling me close.

“Thank you, you’re the best! But we should probably get ready if we wanna be there on time,” she said, frowning a little bit at our missed opportunity. I chuckled and kissed her cheek, then her jawline.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be able to get hella nasty tonight, I promise,” I replied, her giggling making me smile even more as she shoved me playfully. 

“Shut up and go get the shower started,” she said, forcing me to get out of bed as she did the same. I stared at her for a moment before I left our room. I could wake up like this every morning for the rest of my life. And hopefully I would after our special date on Saturday. 

 

After getting ready and having Max help me tie my tie for me, we hopped into my old truck and drove for a solid twenty minutes before pulling up in front of the Caulfield house. It was simple, nothing too crazy. Just a small house with blue walls and white trim on the outside along with a nice green lawn. It was kinda like those houses you see in the movies where that perfect family lived their lives in bliss. That is, until some big misunderstanding threatens to ruin their perfect family get together. Don’t get me wrong, I was glad that Max got to live in such a nice place when she had lived in Seattle all those years ago, but it was still kinda weird to see it up close. I hadn’t been a part of that time in her life, or at least not that I knew of. But it was all water under the bridge now because there we were, walking up to the white door with our fingers intertwined. 

“I’m just going to introduce you to them as my girlfriend, ok?” Max said, pulling me from my thoughts. I looked down at her to see her lips pulled up in a sheepish smile.

“They don’t know?” I asked, not too surprised since Max rarely talked with her extended family. She let out a nervous laugh and looked at the ground.

“Yeah, my parents wanted me to be the one to tell them, but I haven’t had a chance until now,” she replied, kicking at the wet walk way with her brand new flats. We had both decided to dress a little nicer for this occasion. Max’s family was one of those, they dressed nice for a simple lunch. I smiled down at her and kissed her cheek.

“Don’t worry, Super Max,” I told her, trying to put a note of confidence in my voice. Which wasn’t all that difficult despite the fact that I was sort of scared out of my mind. “We got this.” She smiled at me, standing on her tiptoes to kiss me. I smiled into the kiss, letting the warmth of her affection wash over me. We could do this. It wouldn’t be that bad. And even if it didn’t go perfect, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.

When Max pulled away, she stepped forward to knock on the door, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze as we waited for her mom to answer the door. I never understood why we didn’t just walk in the way we did when we visited David and my mom. But I never asked why, I didn’t see a point in bringing it up. When the door opened, we were greeted by a smiling older woman with almost completely white hair that only went down to her cheeks. Her eyes sparkled when they settled on Max, pulling the small girl into a hug.

“Maxine!” she exclaimed, hugged Max so tight I was sure that I saw her eyes pop out of her head. But Max just laughed, giving the older woman a squeeze and a kiss on the cheek before pulling away.

“Hi, grandma,” Max said, smiling so big that it made my heart melt. Sometimes the love that Max had for her family caught me off guard. I wondered if that’s how she’d smile at me someday. Or if she already did smile at me like that and I just didn’t know it. 

“You’ve grown into such a beautiful woman, you know. I always said that you would grow out of your baby fat, but your grandfather never believed me on that,” she said, her eyes reminding me of Max’s and Ryan’s. This must’ve been Ryan’s mom. I had never met Max’s grandparents before, not even when we were kids. She had always gone to Ireland or New York to visit them. Finally, the older woman’s bright blue eyes rested on me, making me tense up a little. I stood up a little straighter, unsure if what I saw in the woman’s eyes was hostility or curiosity. “And who’s your friend, Max?” She asked, looking me up and down with a small smile on her face. Oh man, this was gonna be way more difficult than I thought. I was pretty sure that I would shit a brick or something else hella embarrassing like that.

“Oh, this is Chloe, she’s my… my girlfriend,” Max replied, linking her arm with mine and pulling me close to her side. I managed an awkward smile as I reached out my hand to the older woman. Her expression had only changed a fraction, but it was enough to show me that she wasn’t pissed off. She was smiling at me now, which was a good sign. It wasn’t a big smile like the one she’d given Max, but it wasn’t fake. She shook my hand, taking a step close to me. She was standing on the walkway with us now instead of up on the porch.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Chloe. My name is Audrey, but you can call me grandma is you want, most of the people who are here call me that anyway,” she said casually, but her tone felt friendly. I felt relieved in a way, but also ten times more nervous. Not only did I have to ask Ryan if I could marry his daughter, but now I had to impress all these other people too. I smiled at her, trying to seem less nervous than I felt.

“It’s really nice to meet you,” I replied, feeling Max’s grip on my bicep relax.

“You’re dressed fairly nice for lunch,” Audrey said teasingly, making my cheeks heat up but also making me smile.

“Gotta dress to impress,” I replied, grinning despite myself. I kinda liked Max’s grandma already, she seemed pretty chill. “But I did have to ask Max to tie the tie for me. I couldn’t figure it out to save my life.” This made Audrey laugh and Max giggled a little, making me smile even more.

“She learned how so that she could help Ryan with the same thing,” Audrey said, motioning for us to follow her into the house. “He still hasn’t gotten the hang of us.” The house was full of laughter and conversation as we walked in, Max closing the door behind us. “Lunch is almost ready. You should go introduce Chloe to the rest of the family.” I felt my heart start racing in my chest. What if the rest of the Caulfields weren’t as chill as Max’s parents and grandma? I mean, sure it had taken Max’s parents some time to be ok with the whole her daughter dating her childhood best friend thing, but they had still gotten there eventually. Max took my hand, intertwining our fingers and leading me toward the living room. Audrey took the first left, leading into the kitchen where I could see Vanessa checking on something that was in the oven. Whatever it was smelled hella amazing and I couldn’t help the tiny grumbling sound my stomach made.

“You gonna be ok?” Max asked, pulling me from my day dreams of delicious food. We were standing in the hallway that lead to the front door, the door to the kitchen just behind me and the corner the living room was just around was behind Max. I nodded, smiling as confidently as I could.

“Hella ready, Maxipad,” I said teasingly, making Max groan, rolling her eyes a little.

“Just please don’t call me that in front of anyone else,” she pleaded. “And try not to cuss, my aunt’s kids are pretty young still.”

“Right, no weird nicknames and no cussing, got it,” I said with a chuckle. Max sighed but she was smiling. 

“Max? Is that you over there?” A voice came from the other room. I looked up to see Ryan walking towards us with a big smile on his face. 

“Hey, dad,” Max said, hugging him when he reached her. I smiled despite myself. Max was such a daddy’s girl, it was almost sickening. Ryan and Max were so much alike that it was almost like Vanessa wasn’t even part of the process that had brought Max into the world in the first place. Well, except for her voice, Max sounded so much like Vaness that it was scary. The only way I was able to tell them apart was because Max used words that Vanessa would never use in her life. 

“How are you two doing?” Ryan asked, smiling at me and pulling me into a side hug. I smiled at him and ran my fingers through my hair a little to fix it up. It was a nervous habit of mine. Plus, I would have to have a hella serious conversation with that guy tonight. I had to look at least half way decent, right?

“Pretty good, Chloe’s already met grandma Aud,” Max said to her dad, making me chuckle a little because Aud just sounded exactly like the word odd. Which, I was guessing wasn’t a bad description of anyone who was part of the Caulfield family.

“I bet that was a trip,” Ryan said, laughing as he slapped his palm against my shoulder blade, only making me stumble forward a little compared the millions of other times he’d done it and made me fall flat on my face. Ryan was a large man, standing at a little over six feet tall with a full beard, brown hair and shoulders so broad that it was a shock every time he made it through a doorway unscaved. I was almost six feet tall, but he easily towered above me, making me feel like the short one for once. He was a pretty cool guy, though. He reminded me of my dad in a lot of ways, only different in the way he looked and the fact that he could only really be serious when something was hella important. Kinda like what I had to ask him today. Oh god, how was I supposed to ask him if i could marry his daughter? Was that even something I was allowed to do? 

“You ok, Chlo?” Max asked, pulling me from my thoughts again. Jesus, I was being spacey. I was never this bad.

“Yeah, I’m chill,” I replied, managing a smile. “Just thinking about how good that food smells, that’s all.” Max gave me that look that told me she knew I was lying, but I just kept smiling, trying to move the attention away from me again.

“You should introduce her to grandpa and the cousins,” Ryan cut in, putting his hand on my shoulder and squeezing it a little. “I’ll go check on the food.” 

“Ok, thanks, dad,” Max said, smiling at him as he walked down the hall towards the kitchen. Then turning her gaze to me, Max gave me a look that made me shiver a little. Why was she suddenly acting so serious. “Chloe, are you sure you’re ok? You look like you’re gonna pass out.” I chuckled and shook my head, pulling her close and wrapping my arms around her hips.

“I’m fine, ok?” I replied, leaning my forehead against hers. “I’m just feeling kinda weird, that’s all. I mean, we did have quite a lot of fun last night.” It was more to change the subject than anything, but the fact that Max was blushing so hard that it went all the way down under the collar of her shirt was definitely a satisfying bonus. 

“I swear, you are the worst,” Max giggled, wrapping her arms around my neck. “It was fun, though. Maybe we can have more fun when we get home?” I smirked, kissing her for a moment before replying.

“I am so down,” I whispered, leaning down to kiss her when I heard a tiny voice coming from just behind her.

“What are you doing?” The tiny voice asked, making Max and I jump away from each other. I looked down to see a small boy with wide eyes and messy red hair staring up at us in confusion. Max blushed, clearing her throat. 

“Oh, nothing,” she said shakily, running her fingers through her hair. “Sean, this is my friend Chloe, can you say hi to her?” She said to the small boy, making him smile shyly at me. He looked at the ground, moving behind Max a little. I knelt down and smiled at him, waving a little.

“Hey, Sean,” I said, trying to act as calm and normal as possible. “I’m Chloe. It’s cool to meet you.” He stared at me for a moment, waving nervously. He was wearing a Spiderman shirt and some blue jeans, his white socks curling against the carpet as his toes clenched and unclenched. “I like your shirt. Is Spiderman your favorite?” I asked, trying to find something he might wanna talk about. At the mention of the superhero on his shirt, his face lit up and he nodded excitedly.

“I have Spiderman shoes too,” he said, moving out from behind Max a little. “Wanna see?” I grinned, leaning forward a little.

“That sounds awesome, wanna go get them and bring them back here?” I asked. He smiled and nodded, running down a hallway that lead to the bedrooms and whatnot. I got to my feet, seeing Max smiling at me.

“Wow, someone has a way with kids,” Max said teasingly, crossing her arms over her chest. I shrugged, smirking at her.

“What can I say? Chloe Price charms all,” I joked, following Max into the living room as she rolled her eyes. Max’s aunt Jessica was a scary woman. She looked nothing like her brother at all, therefore lacking that classic giant teddy bear type vibe and taking on a much colder air that made me tense as hell. She had red hair and sharp features, but her smile was nice, at least. She had brown eyes like Ryan, though, so that was familiar at least. She had two other children, twin girls named Anna and Grace. Anna was loud and loved being the center of attention, asking Max to come show her all the rooms in the house every five seconds. Grace was much quieter, sitting on the couch and reading a book. She looked up at the other people in the room every now and again, but only for a moment as she just barely peeked over the pages of a book that said Spiderwick on the front. 

“You guys seemed have really gone with the Irish names, huh?” I asked, gaining a snickering laugh from Max’s grandpa (who’s name I later learned was Jack) and a slight smirk from Jessica. Jack was built a lot like Ryan, but his humor was a little more sarcastic and dry than Ryan’s was. 

“Well, we are Irish,” Jessica said dryly, barely showing the note of a joking tone underneath. “So it would make sense for us to have Irish names.”

“Chloe is an Irish name, you know,” Jack added, grinning at me. He had a pretty strong accent, unlike the rest of his family. Max told me later that Jack was originally from Ireland but moved to the US and met Audrey In New York where their other three children lived. Jack and Audrey had since moved back to Ireland along with Jessica and her kids. I laughed nervously, rubbing the back of my neck. 

“That so?” I asked, shooting Max a glare as she held in her giggles. She could tell that I was floundering, but she didn’t say a word. I didn’t blame her, I wouldn’t know how to shield her from her own awkward comments either. Oh and she made plenty of them most of the time. 

“Yes, it means green shoot, a symbol of hope and new life,” Audrey added as she walked in, her hands on her hips. “Now, if we’re done discussing names, would you all like to eat?” 

“Yes please,” I said, getting to my feet. Audrey laughed, putting her arm around my shoulders and leading me towards the dining room. She was quite a few inches shorter than me, but I figured that me leaning down would only piss her off. 

“Ah, so eager! You’re not half bad, you know?” she said, patting my shoulder before letting go of me. I laughed nervously and pulled out a chair for Max, letting her sit down before sitting in the seat to her left. Everyone talked while we ate, sort of like how it was at my house when everyone was in a decent mood. I think that being away from home actually made me care more about David and my mom. Probably because now we didn’t have any time to be at each other’s throats. It was a nice lunch, everything tasted amazing, but I didn’t eat as much as I wanted to. My stomach was tying itself in knots again. Because I knew that as soon as Ryan got up to go do something, I’d have to follow him and ask him what I had been thinking about for awhile now. But how was I even supposed to go about it? As if reading my mind, Ryan scooted his chair back, standing up.

“I’m going to go put the dessert in the oven,” he proclaimed, gaining an enthusiastic cheer from most of the people at the table. As soon as Ryan left the room, I got up from the table, excusing myself for a moment. Max only gave me a momentarily questioning look before I smiled and kissed her cheek, leaving the room and heading for the kitchen. 

When I got there, Ryan was putting a pan of brownies in the oven, setting the timer on the microwave before turning around. My heart was pounding against my ribs, making me wonder if my chest would explode. When he turned around, he smiled, quirking an eyebrow at me. 

“Hey there, Chloe, what’s up?” he asked, making me freeze where I stood. He furrowed his brows together, looking slightly concerned. “Are you alright? You’ve been acting strange all afternoon. Is everything alright with you and Max?” 

“Oh, yeah, no, we’re totally fine,” I replied quickly, not wanting to worry him or anything. I just didn’t know how to ask the question I needed to in that moment. “More than fine, actually. I… I was, uh…” I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. Ryan took a step towards me, putting a giant hand on my shoulder. 

“It’s ok, Chloe, you can tell me anything you want,” he said, smiling at me reassuringly. “We’re practically family for heaven’s sake.” I laughed a little at that, looking at the ground.

“That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about,” I said, forcing myself to look up into those big brown eyes. Ryan wasn’t a scary guy, but Max was his daughter and I could only imagine what wrath would befall me if I ever did anything to hurt her. “I… I love Max. I love her more than anything else in this world. So, I was going to ask you if… If I could marry your daughter.” 

“What?” Max’s voice came from behind me. I jumped, spinning around to see her standing in the doorway, staring at me with wide eyes. 

“Oh shit,” I said softly. 

“Hey, language,” Ryan warned, nudging me. I resisted the urge to say something snappy as I looked away from Max’s wide blue eyes. I wasn’t ashamed by any means, but I had definitely hoped that she would find out some other way than this. 

“Chloe,” Max said, stepping into the kitchen. 

“Max, can you give Chloe and I minute to talk?” Ryan asked, the firmness of his tone taking me off guard. Max seemed to be surprised at the tone in her dad’s voice too because she slowly backed away walking out of the kitchen with a nervous look in her eyes. I turned around to see Ryan standing over me, staring down at me so seriously that I was sure he could crush me with a stare alone. “Follow me.” He said, walking out of the kitchen to the back door. I followed, looking into the dining room to see Max with a pensive look on her face as she poked at her food with a fork. My heart sank a little at the sight. She looked almost scared. When Ryan and I got outside, he sat down on the porch swing, motioning for me to sit down on the lawn chair in front of him. I did so, leaning forward with my elbows on my knees. It had started to rain, but the onning that we sat under protected us from the gentle falling drops of water. 

“So, you want to marry Max,” Ryan said, his voice soft, far different from its usual booming nature. I looked from my shoes to him, nodding.

“Yes, sir,” I said, sounding as sure as I could. Because I was sure. Hell, I’d never been more sure of anything in my life. Ryan sighed, looking at the ground and rubbing his face the way Max did to regain herself sometimes. I guess it grounded her in a way, reminded her of where she was while momentarily wiping away whatever had caused her to sigh in such a way. 

“Vanessa and I have been very understanding of you dating our daughter,” he said softly, looking up at me. “You two really seem to be serious about this whole thing and I’m not against you two being together. But I’m scared of what will happen if you two commit to each other in such a way. What if one of you realizes that you like men instead or what if someone tries to hurt Max because she’s married to another woman? What if things don’t work out?” I felt my jaw tighten and my fists clench a little.

“I won’t let anyone hurt Max,” I said firmly. “Not even myself. Rya- Mr. Caulfield, I love your daughter so much. She is my everything, I wouldn’t be doing this if I hadn’t thought long and hard about it first. I know that I’m usually someone who acts on impulse, but Max has taught me that sometimes you gotta think shit through, especially when it’s this important.” As I spoke, I held his gaze, hoping that maybe he would see the determination in my eyes and know that I was serious. I had done nothing but love Max and support her through everything, even if I had been an ass at times. There was a long pause, the two of us just staring at each other for what felt like forever. We both loved Max, that much was obvious. I mean, she was my best friend, my soul mate while also being Ryan’s only child. She was his daughter and nothing I could say was gonna change that, obviously. Not that I would ever try to change that. After six or seven life times had passed, Ryan let out a laugh, leaning back in the porch swing as though he were relaxing.

“You know, I had always said no man would be good enough for my little girl,” he said, letting out a sigh. “Little did I know that a woman would come along instead.” I chuckled, nodding and letting my gaze fall to my shoes again. “She’s gonna want an explanation, you know. I think that she heard what you said in the kitchen.”

“You think?” I asked sarcastically, but it was weaker than I had intended it to be. He laughed and stood, putting his hand on my shoulder, making me look up at him.

“Do what you think is right, Chloe,” he said, squeezing my shoulder. “Just know that Vanessa and I support you two. Just try not to break her heart, ok?” I smiled and nodded.

“Promise,” I replied. He smiled down at me, nodding and walking inside. I sat there for a moment, taking a deep breath before getting to my feet. Now I just had to face Max. Hell, I didn’t even know if she’d say yes. 

As if my thoughts had summoned her, Max walked out the backdoor of the house, closing the sliding glass behind her. She was wrapped up in a blanket, a nervous smile on her face.

“Hey,” she said softly, taking a step towards me. I smiled, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Hey,” I replied, my voice almost too weak to make it all the way up my throat and into the air. “Do you wanna sit down for a minute? There was something kinda important that I wanted to talk to you about.” 

“Sure,” she replied, sitting down on the porch swing. I sat down next to her, not really sure if I could even look at her I was so nervous. It was like she was waiting for me to speak even though she knew exactly what I was gonna say.

“So, you heard what I said in the kitchen, huh?” I asked, leaning forward and placing my elbows on my knees, folding my hands together. 

“Yeah,” she said softly, looking over at me. “Chloe, you don’t have to marry me, you know.” I felt a small amount of hurt fill my chest as she spoke.

“What?” I asked, meeting her deep blue eyes. She sighed and shook her head.

“No, I just mean that you... You don’t have to marry me if that’s not what you want,” she said, looking away from me. 

“Of course it’s what I want,” I said gently, taking her hands in mine and turning to face her fully. “Max, I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Partners in time, remember?” She breathed a laugh at the memory, looking down at our hands. 

“You’re not just saying that, are you?” She whispered, her hands tensing a little in mine. I untangled my right hand from where it sat in my lap and lifted her chin so that she had to look at me.

“Max, does it look like I’m just saying this stuff?” I asked, seeing tears welling up in her eyes. She shook her head and I smiled, kissing her softly. “So, do you wanna marry me, Max Caulfield?” She laughed softly, sniffling and wiping her eyes.

“Of course I do, Chloe,” she said, wrapping her arms around me and burying her face in my neck. I resisted the tears that threatened to fall down my cheeks, feeling my shoulder getting wet. I breathed a laugh, holding Max close. 

“Babe, why are you crying?” I asked, pulling away a little to wipe a tear from her cheek. She laughed, sniffling again. 

“I’m sorry, I’m just so happy,” she replied, looking up at me. I smiled, kissing her.

“Me too, Super Max,” I said, pulling her in for another kiss. I was so happy that I was pretty sure my heart might explode inside my chest. I could barely believe that this was happening. But it was. Max and I got married a couple months later, having a small wedding with only a few family members and close friends. Most people say that getting married is the beginning of two people’s lives together. But if you ask me, Max and I had always been meant to live like this. Almost like we’d known it from the start. Partners in time, from beginning to end.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope it this was good!!!! I've never written Pricefield before so it took me awhile but it got finished lol. I really hope you enjoyed this, Kayla (and everyone else reading). Have an awesome day!!!


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